Links in the Chain
by Universitas
Summary: Fifty sentences exploring the relationship between Hunter Shepard and Ashley Williams.


**Links in the Chain**_  
by Universitas_

Yes, I have jumped on the 1sentence bandwagon, and yes, I did it for Hunter/Ashley as promised back in one of those weeks of "Chains." I tried keeping things as simple as possible, and I hope the attempt at this thing was at least somewhat successful.

I do not own _Mass Effect._ BioWare and EA do.

* * *

**1. Walking**

The sight of Ashley walking towards him made fighting through a horde of Collectors worth it.

**2. Waltz**

Ash was unsurprised that Hunter, too, had a soft spot for the soft stuff when she found "The Blue Danube" playing in his cabin.

**3. Wishes**

Hunter gave her an incredulous look at her "Make a wish and blow out the candles" when she presented him with a birthday cake.

**4. Wonder**

She gazed at him, at the glowing red scars on his face, and wondered if he was really the man she wanted to believe he was.

**5. Worry**

Ashley spent a while telling herself that Hunter would be fine and kick ass when she got his reply telling her that he was en route to the Omega-4 relay.

**6. Whimsy**

He had lived for eleven years according to the whimsies of shitheads in suits; what he had with her was the one thing that truly belonged to him.

**7. Wasteland**

"And I will show you something different from either your shadow at morning striding behind you or your shadow at evening rising to meet you," she said to herself after speaking with Vigil, and Hunter responded with "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

**8. Whiskey and Rum**

She couldn't help but say "lightweight" while Hunter spat out his drink… fortunately all over Pressly instead of Garrus or Tali.

**9. War**

It didn't surprise her how quickly a research facility could turn into a war zone, but it did surprise her how quickly Hunter threw himself into it.

**10. Weddings**

Laughing it all off was difficult after Hunter had that same dream for the fifth time.

**11. Birthday**

Hunter usually didn't care about his birthday, but after Ash pretty much dragged the crew to the Orbital Lounge, seeing Wrex threaten to headbutt Joker made the whole affair worth it.

**12. Blessing**

He almost joined Ashley in her silent prayer as she stood in front of Kaidan's empty coffin.

**13. Bias**

Ashley figured that Shepard was trying to teach her something when he placed her under Garrus' command for a mission to a fortified geth outpost.

**14. Burning**

They agreed that setting a geth on fire was the most satisfying use of incendiary rounds.

**15. Breathing**

He spent his last breaths living out one of his worst fears: dying alone.

**16. Breaking**

Miranda saw the entire crew feel the effects of Shepard's dangerously unstable mood following the mission to Horizon.

**17. Belief**

Hunter didn't take well to the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing being controlling his life; he had plenty of real people doing that already.

**18. Balloon**

Hunter was just glad that the birthday party didn't have any balloons with happy faces.

**19. Balcony**

Hunter was relieved that his second attempt at holding her hand succeeded as they gazed at the stars from the balcony of her apartment.

**20. Bane**

Ashley saw Hunter get showered with all kinds of new titles after the Battle of the Citadel; she liked "Bane of the Geth" the best.

**21. Quiet**

Sickening silence overtook the escape shuttle as Ashley watched the _Normandy_ burn with Hunter and Joker still aboard.

**22. Quirks**

When Tali told him how Shepard flipped out at her for mentioning Ashley, Joker could only say "It's one of his quirks."

**23. Question**

Shepard's reaction to "Who's the special lady in the picture on your desk?" made Kasumi's shoulders slump.

**24. Quarrel**

Ashley had no idea why Hunter was the one apologizing to her when she started the argument about Feros in the first place.

**25. Quitting**

Williams had responded to Anderson's message with a request for shore leave; after meeting with an angry Shepard, he knew exactly why.

**26. Jump**

Their opinions on the jump from "Butcher of Torfan" to "Savior of the Citadel" couldn't differ more.

**27. Jester**

He didn't regret taking her out to a comedy club on Terra Nova during their week of shore leave, especially when the geth jokes started rolling out.

**28. Jousting**

She didn't envy in the least when she watched him argue with the Council over going to Ilos; in fact, she almost felt sorry that he had to deal with those thick-skulled idiots.

**29. Jewel**

He was glad it was Garrus who caught him browsing a jewelry store's ring selection instead of Ash.

**30. Just**

Shepard's orders should've been enough, but Ashley still felt like she was doing something horrible by gunning down the colonists of Zhu's Hope.

**31. Smirk**

She only offered him the smallest smirk after she saved his ass from a charging krogan.

**32. Sorrow**

Ashley hated how she was jealous of a sobbing Liara as Anderson gave his eulogy.

**33. Stupidity**

In anger, she once chewed out Joker for getting Hunter killed and regretted her stupidity immediately.

**34. Serenade**

Sometimes they simply cuddled in bed while Ashley recited Tennyson to him.

**35. Sarcasm**

"Wow, skipper, I had _no idea_ you liked charging headfirst into geth traps so much."

**36. Sordid**

Miranda didn't need to wonder why Shepard had Joker pinned to the wall with biotics, fist milliseconds away from the pilot's face.

**37. Soliloquy**

He spent half an hour in his quarters trying to convince himself out loud that this thing with Ashley was a bad idea.

**38. Sojourn**

The stop at the Citadel wasn't just for Thane and Garrus; Hunter wanted to tell Anderson exactly what he thought about keeping Ashley's activities a secret from him.

**39. Share**

Hunter let Kasumi keep Keiji's graybox out of empathy, because even though their situations were different, he had lost enough to share her grief.

**40. Solitary**

As much as he distrusted the _Normandy_'s Cerberus crew, he spoke to them because he hated being alone.

**41. Nowhere**

After Horizon, he ordered EDI to find some nowhere merc base to shoot up because he didn't know how else to vent his anger.

**42. Neutral**

He watched Ash and Garrus argue, wondering if he should take a side, before deciding just to head into engineering for a chat with Tali instead.

**43. Nuance**

Hunter didn't quite understand what Ashley meant when she told him that he was "stressing all the wrong feet" in "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

**44. Near**

They exchanged no words when the blue glow of the Conduit came into view, only nods as the Mako kicked into high gear.

**45. Natural**

She found that saying those three words to him wasn't as hard as some people said; in fact, it came a bit naturally to her.

**46. Horizon**

As much as Hunter didn't want to admit it, the colonists came second on Horizon.

**47. Valiant**

Ashley knew better than anyone that Hunter _hated_ being called "valiant" or "heroic."

**48. Virtuous**

Ashley never expected Hunter to rescue a diplomat's child held hostage by Blue Suns, especially after wiping out Zhu's Hope; when she asked him about it, he said "Some deserve saving more than others."

**49. Victory**

She watched him emerge from Sovereign's rubble, and she couldn't help but mirror the triumphant smirk on his face.

**50. Defeat**

He watched her walk away, until Horizon's gutted prefabs consumed his sight of her.

* * *

And there you have it, obligatory poetry and classical music references and all. I also have an unofficial double 1character thing with Natalie Shepard (Renegon / Colonist / Sole Suvivor / Sentinel) and Adrian Shepard (Paragon / Spacer / Sole Survivor / Soldier) going on, so there is plenty more 1-sentence prompt crap coming from me later.


End file.
